Search for dean of admissions continues

The search for a replacement for Dean of Admissions David Cuttino should be finished by mid-summer. Despite speculation to the contrary, the position will be filled, although it will have a different title and changed responsibilities.

Dean of Arts and Sciences Ernst, who leads the search with Dean of the School of Engineering Vincent Manno, said the mid-summer date is a goal, not a deadline for selecting a candidate. "We will fill the position when we have the right person," she said.

Tufts is looking to hire a candidate for the position, now called the Dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management, who has "long-term, serious experience within admissions," Ernst said. The position has not changed, however, despite the new title.

Candidates include assistant deans of admission at other schools, she said, who may want to move to a more senior position.

This presents a challenge that is typical of the search for many senior level administrative positions, Ernst said. Many candidates already have jobs and "we want to bring this job to them...to catch those who might not be looking."

Tufts has employed an executive search firm in addition to placing advertisements both inside the school and also in the education press. The firm will help "do some of the heavy lifting" in the search, according to Ernst, which became involved five months ago.

Isaacson, Miller, the same firm that was used to bring in President Bacow, is conducting search by using contacts in a large network of faculty and administrators throughout the country.

Dean Ernst said that Isaacson, Miller has "brought great people to Tufts" in the past.

The first step for Tufts was to post the position internally with the Human Resources department. More recently, the position was made public in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, and The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education - all popular media outlets for such searches.

The first step that Isaacson, Miller took in its search was to talk to administrators and staff at Tufts to develop a profile of the ideal candidate, Ernst said. The firm spoke with admissions staff members at Tufts to gauge the type of person who would work well with them. They also contacted other people who will be working with the new dean, such as Executive Administrative Dean Wayne Bouchard and even consulted Cuttino.

Isaacson, Miller's search process, however, is much more informal. The firm will likely use its contacts to call people whom they think are interested in the job, or people they have been told are interested, according to Ernst. If a candidate is interested, Isaacson, Miller sends them a comprehensive document detailing the position and performs reference checks that would otherwise be time consuming and tedious for Tufts to do itself.

The search firm will limit the field to ten to 15 people whom they find to match Tufts, said Ernst. It conducts extensive phone interviews and passes on the information gathered to administrators at Tufts, she said.

Once the search firm turns over the list of names of prospective candidates that they have assembled and narrowed, a Tufts committee will begin its review. The committee is composed of two faculty members, Associate Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Berry and Associate Professor of Child Development Jayanthi Mistry, and two staff members, Bouchard and Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, Yves-Rose SaintDic. Two students who are available over the summer will also be selected as members of this committee.

The committee was assembled by Ernst to be as diverse as possible. She hopes to get "as broad an input into [the search process] as possible."

According to Ernst, this committee will meet throughout the summer break to select the best candidate. As a final part of the search, President Larry Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha will individually interview the final candidates that the committee chooses.

Looking forward, Ernst said she was "delighted with the committee" and had a positive outlook on this summer's task. "Dean Cuttino was a great dean of admissions and will be a hard act to follow, but I think that Tufts is in a wonderful position to attract a new dean," she said.